We need a rewrite and quickly. “This is a movie. And Barack Obama is the Hero. And the Republicans are the Villains. And policy questions — and Obama’s myriad failures as an executive — are simply incidental. They are MacGuffins only, of no importance whatsoever, except to the extent they provide opportunities for Drama as the Hero fights in favor of them.” The MacGuffinization of American Politics

Victor Davis Hanson is a true genius. Read the whole thing. “Only as America slowly sobers up from five years of slumber can we begin to fathom Obama’s likely legacy — which is mostly wisdom acquired only from pain.” Learning through Pain

Here’s proof! MSNBC is the propaganda machine for the Democrat party. “Take a quick look at the numbers. A recent Pew study revealed that the supposedly neutral CNN spent 54 percent of its time broadcasting “news” and 46 percent of its time hosting “opinion.” Fox, by contrast, transmits 55 percent opinion and 45 percent news. But MSNBC — well, MSNBC consists of a remarkable 85 percent opinion and only 15 percent news. This has consequences. During the election, Pew added, the ratio of unfavorable to favorable treatment in stories on candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on MSNBC “was roughly 23-to-1; the negative-to-positive ratio on Fox News was 8-to-1.”” MSNBC’s Alternative Universe

This article is sprinkled throughout with Left wing bias, but it is worth a read. “The shift in Asian American political sentiments started during the Clinton years and owes much to the prosperity of his two terms as president, which enhanced the appeal of a Democratic Party that, from the civil rights movement on, had always seemed more welcoming to minorities.” GOP starts a tough struggle to win back Asian American voters

Jokes. “The proposition that the IRS scandal derives from the IRS Cincinnati office is a pathetic joke. The proposition that it is the creation of unfriendly media is a lie of the highly convoluted variety. The particular lack of perspective that Obama alleges on the part of the “so-called progressives” and “liberal commentators” — that’s la-la land stuff.” Quotations from Chairman Barry

Lessons learned? “When the President brazenly violated the law of diffuse and concentrated interests, he illustrated the hubris so characteristic of everything he does. He thinks the ordinary laws of politics don’t apply to him. He can strike a handsome pose, give a charismatic speech, and his problems will go away. Europeans will give him Nobel prizes. The media will fawn. That is how he has understood the laws of politics up to this point. He is starting to get a lesson in what the real laws of politics look like.” Even Obama can’t violate fundamental laws of politics

Hear, hear! “If Hobby Lobby loses, the US Supreme Court will have endorsed the idea that the federal government can force individuals to violate their most sacred religious principles to satisfy any government demands. The central question of the Hobby Lobby case, then, is whether religious liberty will continue to be meaningful in this country. For what good is a religious liberty that protects your rights to attend a worship service, but allows the government to force you to live in opposition to the values preached at those services? This is why all supporters of liberty and limited government—regardless of their views on the morality of contraception—should be on the side of Hobby Lobby.”” Thank You, Ron Paul

“Funny, the Obama administration, in Year 5, is totally fine with “gross incompetence.” Many warned that these guys weren’t ready for prime time. They said they were. But really, they weren’t. And like with Obamacare, all they can say is it’s not our fault. Worse, no one seems to know anything. But as everyone knows, ignorance is no excuse.” CURL: Obama tells a whopper on IRS scandal

Laws are for the ‘little people.’ “When private companies do this sort of thing, it’s a crime. When the government does it, it’s supposed to be a comfort.” Invasion of Privacy

Dependence. “How about ending the Democrat “War on the American Way of Life” and stop giving millions of people the gift of one fish over the holidays. Why not teach unemployed Americans how to fish for a lifetime, giving them the ability to feed themselves?” “Robbing” and the “War on Christmas”

Reality. “In short, the black-and-white nature of the minimum wage debate obscures the fact that money doesn’t come from nothing. An increase in wages would require higher costs somewhere, lower incomes for the rich or larger amounts of debt. Those may be legitimate costs to bear, but we shouldn’t pretend that they aren’t an integral part of the equation. We also shouldn’t pretend that increasing the minimum wage is a good proxy for the debate over these issues.” The True Cost of a Higher Minimum Wage

This: “Obama rewrites the history of the Reagan revolution as the beginning of the bad times.” And this: “Of course, it may not feel like America is prospering right now, either. While the economy added a better-than-expected 203,000 jobs last month, there are still nearly 4 million fewer full-time workers today than before the Great Recession. But it could be worse. At least America is growing and adding jobs. If we’re going to do a lot better, though, we need to draw the right lessons from the past — not distort it to promote stale ideological agendas.” Income-Inequality Revisionism

Waking up. “Unfortunately for the Democrats, it seems unlikely that young folks who expect Obamacare to be repealed will sign up in droves for health insurance plans on the Obamacare exchanges. For one thing, repeal presumably means no penalty for not signing up. In addition, how much confidence can one have in a plan associated with a law that’s “likely” to be repealed?” Live by the poorly informed, die by the poorly uninformed

From the comments: “I demand Emmanuel, and the entire Obummer administration, and the Democrat Party as a whole, to pay this bill off themselves.” And this: “Dr. Emanuel tried to defend Obamacare, claiming that “No one guaranteed you that your premium wouldn’t increase”–ignoring the president’s repeated promise that health insurance premiums could drop by as much as $2500. He tried to claim that Obamacare’s “glitches” were similar to those of popular devices like the iPhone.” Ezekiel Emanuel: If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Pay More Under Obamacare

Whiners. “On the one hand, it’s a little off-putting to hear the Senate Majority Leader without whose leadership was indispensable to the passage of Obamacare complaining about it. On the other hand, we can be grateful that Reid hasn’t yet gotten the memo instructing Democrats to call Obamacare by its Orwellian statutory title.” World’s smallest violin

Sickcare. “Uninformed “progressives” have suggested that “Medicare for all” is the answer. Their ignorance of exactly how Medicare functions is appalling; recall that Medicare is the system in which an estimated 40% of all expenditures are fraudulent, unneccessary or counter-productive, where a few days in the hospital is billed at $120,000 (first-hand knowledge) and a one-hour out-patient operation is billed at $12,000, along with a half-hour wait in a room that’s billed at several thousand more dollars for “observation.” (Also first-hand knowledge.)” Obamacare Is A Catastrophe That Cannot Be Fixed

From Canada. “The truth is that no matter how many smart people are in charge, governments can’t run things very well. Here in Canada, they run education and health-care systems that are quite expensive, but no more than pretty good. (That’s the Canadian way. U.S. health care and education span the extremes, from superb to awful, while we’re content to settle in the mediocre middle.) The basic difference between progressives and conservatives (not Republican or Harper conservatives, but the Burkean kind) is that progressives are convinced that rational planners with good intentions and advanced degrees can transform society. Conservatives are more doubtful. They’d be happy if governments just collected taxes and fixed the roads.” Obamacare, where the liberal dream crashes and burns

Last ditch efforts. “No one doubts Schiliro’s discipline or his skills, and his appointment is a sign the administration realizes Obamacare faces more turbulence in the coming months. But he will have to negotiate a difficult obstacle course, including the continued unwillingness of Obama to further shake up his White House staff or replace even one official responsible for the botched website.” Obama’s New Health-Care Fix-It Man

We’ve got a terrific line up for our annual Christmas program. First up will be the Ignite Barbershop Quartet. Ignite began singing together after a quartet matching party in November 2015. They are all Champion members of Region 21’s Scottsdale Chorus and they will be singing for us!

After lunch, Congressional District 6 congressman, Representative David Schweikart, will talk to us about what’s happening in Washington DC, and provide us with a status of the Tax Bill working its way through the House of Representatives and Senate.

Finally, member Julia Graham will install our new 2018/2019 officers. We look forward to seeing you and be sure to bring a friend or two or three!